This winter I refurbished the cockpit bolster pads (replaced the covering) on my 1993 Grady White 226 Seafarer. After 13 years the vinyl material had become discolored cracked and damaged. I keep the boat in excellent condition and this was the most worn looking part of the boat.
I first removed the pads from the boat by removing the wing nuts and washers behind the wall by reaching up from under and behind the pads. The area is pretty tight and although the wing nuts were on tight all but three unscrewed easily. The three that were difficult to remove I was able to get off first spraying the screw with WD-40 and then by holding the screw with a pair of pliers (careful not to damage the threads) and getting the wing nut loose with channel locks. (there is not a lot of room to work back there especially with the rear pads).
By searching the internet I was able to find the exact same material (Chalk colored Seaquest® Roll ´N Pleat Marine Vinyl) from a number of suppliers. FABRIC WAREHOUSE
http://fabricwarehouse.com/marine/seaquest.htm
had the best price but they sell it in yard lengths only and I needed a little over 2 yards (so I had some extra in case I screwed up) and Stainless Steel staples from Beacon Fabric
http://www.beaconfabric.com/vindex.html?cat79.htm.
(hint: keep one of the bolster pads together to use as a guide when installing the new material)
Next I removed the old covering by removing every staple that attached the vinyl to the back of the board with a flat head screwdriver. I then inspected the foam (which was fine) and the wood. The wood had some rot in one side board where there was a hole in the covering. This made the board week and in danger of breaking in two with all of the handling I would be doing during the repair. I fixed this by glueing a couple of pieces of thin wood shim to the board over the hole. This both covered the hole and gave the board more support.
The flat backing vinyl was still in good shape so I just cleaned and reused it.
I unrolled the new material and layed the old covering over it and traced the outline onto the new material. It was very easy to cut the new material with a pair of good heavy duty sissors. I layed the new material face down on a long table covered with a cloth and placed the foam pad and then the board on top. I folded the covering around the board and tacked it on to the board with the new staples. (I used a Stanley electric staple gun for this. It cost about $30 at home depot. It would have been impossible with a hand staple gun). I placed the backing covering on top board and the folded corner of the new material. (The hardest part was getting the corner folds right. This took a couple of trys and some additional slits to the corner of the new material. This is why I recommend keeping one of the bolester pads together to see how the corner is folded).
I put twice as many staples as was origional on the pads but still only used 1 box of staples.
When I had finished all four pieces (two sides and two back pieces) I would say I put about 10 to 12 hours total into the project but after reinstalling the pads onto the boat they look like they were ordered directly from the factory.
I hope this post helps anyone thinking about recovering the bolster pads on their boat.
If you have any questions I will be glad to help.
